Cuban Beef Picadillo
Cuban Beef Picadillo Recipe – This easy ground beef dish is loaded with intense flavors from cinnamon, raisins, and briny green olives. Authentic Picadillo Cubano is perfect to enjoy in tacos or over rice for a quick and delicious weeknight dinner!
What is Picadillo Cubano?
Picadillo is a hearty dinner dish that’s popular in Latin American countries like Cuba and Mexico, plus many of the southern states of the US.
While there are many recipe variations, versions nearly always include ground meat simmered in a zesty sauce made with tomatoes, raisins, and olives. It’s similar to Tex-Mex spicy taco meat, but has SO much more sweet and earthy flavor, thanks to the extra goodies and a generous pinch of cinnamon.
Authentic Cuban Beef Picadillo
This easy Cuban Beef Picadillo recipe is one we made after our daughter’s school trip to Cuba. She says it tastes EXACTLY as she remembers it. The ground beef is wonderfully meaty and tender, with a great tangy flavor from the green olives and a hint of sweetness from the raisins. Everything is brought together in the bright tomato sauce that’s heavily seasoned with cumin, paprika, and cinnamon.
Typically, Picadillo Cubano is served over rice with black beans and a side of plantains. However, it does make a fabulous taco filling, too!
Ingredients You Need
Our recipe for picadillo doesn’t vary much from authentic Cuban Beef Picadillo. To make this simple yet incredibly flavorful dish you need:
- Oil – your preferred oil for cooking
- Onion – peeled and chopped
- Garlic – minced
- Serrano peppers – seeded and chopped
- Cilantro – chopped, for cooking and garnishing
- Ground beef – I use ground chuck
- Seasonings – ground cumin, smoked paprika, ground cinnamon, salt
- Tomato sauce – canned or jarred
- Vinegar – your choice of apple cider vinegar or red wine vinegar
- Pimento stuffed green olives – either whole and sliced, or save time by purchasing pre-sliced olives
- Raisins – traditionally red raisins, but you can use golden raisins if you like
How to Make Picadillo Cuban with Beef
This Cuban Beef Picadillo recipe is simple to prepare in just one pan, and perfect to enjoy as a quick and satisfying weeknight dinner. Start to finish it takes only a bit over 30 minutes to make!
First, set a large sauté pan over medium heat. Once hot add the oil, chopped onions, garlic, serrano peppers, and cilantro. Sauté for just a few minutes to soften the veggies.
Next add in the ground beef and seasonings. Stir continuously as you brown the beef, breaking it into small pieces with a wooden spoon as it cooks.
When the meat is no longer pink, then add in the tomato sauce, vinegar, olives, and raisins.
Get the Complete (Printable) Cuban Beef Picadillo Recipe Below. Enjoy!
Simmer as you stir for another 5-7 minutes or so, until the sauce thoroughly coats and tightens around the meat.
Remove from the heat and serve warm. Garnish with a bit of chopped cilantro, if you like.
Frequently Asked Questions
Serve warm with steamed white rice, black beans, and any other Latin-inspired sides you like.
It’s also delicious to enjoy as a flavorful taco filling. Layer into corn or flour tortillas, and garnish with chopped cilantro, cotija cheese, and your favorite hot sauce.
– For a leaner dish, swap the ground beef with ground turkey.
– Make the picadillo even spicier by adding an extra serrano pepper.
– For a less spicy version, only use one serrano pepper.
This Cuban Beef Picadillo recipe is excellent to make as part of your weekly meal prep. It keeps well in the fridge stored in an airtight container for up to 4 days. The flavors get even better as they settle together!
You can freeze for up to 3 months, but note that the olives and raisins won’t have quite the same great tenderness when frozen, defrosted, and reheated.
Looking for More Delicious Ground Beef Recipes?
- Keto Taco Stuffed Peppers
- Perfect Tamale Pie Recipe
- Homemade Hamburger Helper (Cheeseburger Macaroni!)
- One-Pot Sloppy Joe Noodle Skillet
- Mexican Crockpot Meatloaf Recipe
Check Out More Cuban Recipes
Cuban Beef Picadillo
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 large onion peeled and chopped
- 4-5 cloves garlic minced
- 1-2 serrano peppers seeded and chopped
- ¼ cup chopped cilantro
- 2 pounds ground beef (I used beef chuck.)
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 15 ounce can tomato sauce
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar or red wine vinegar
- 1 cup pimento stuffed green olives drained and sliced
- ¾ cup raisins
Instructions
- Set a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the oil, chopped onions, garlic, serrano peppers, and cilantro. Saute for 3-5 minutes to soften.
- Add in the ground beef, cumin, paprika, cinnamon, and salt. Brown the beef, breaking it into small pieces with a wooden spoon, 5-8 minutes.
- Once the meat is cooked, add in the tomato sauce, vinegar, olives, and raisins. Simmer and stir another 5-7 minutes, until the sauce tightens around the meat.
- Serve warm with rice or as a taco filling.
Video
Notes
You can freeze for up to 3 months, but note that the olives and raisins won’t have quite the same great tenderness when frozen, defrosted, and reheated.
Nutrition
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Delicious. I love when cultural foods naturally incorporate depth of flavor. So much wisdom in the knowledge of our ancestors. Sweet from the raisins, salt from the olives, savory from the sauce. Yum 😋
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This was wonderful – thank you!! It was even better the next day :)
It’s all good except for the serrano peppers, thise are not used in Cuban food. They use italian frying Peppers (ie, cubanel peppers.)
This looks incredibly delicious! The perfect meal!!
This surprised me! I was skeptical, I’ll be honest. But I thought I’d go ahead and give it a go anyway. This was so good! I served it up with a side of brown rice. So delicious. So fun to try a new cuisine from a different culture!
This was delicious. Love those olives in there!
holy guacamole! This recipe is unlike anything else and I love all the flavors and textures that are added in. (plus anything with olives seems to be one of my favorite things haha)